Eleanor’s Sunny Scilly Blog!

Another day in the Scilly Isles and today we were digging on Samson for our second day of National Archaeology Week.  We had a slightly earlier start than usual, and a different boat too, getting the Firethorn instead of one of the usual smaller boats we hire.  All would have gone swimmingly had it not been for a select few (i.e. Ed, Owen and Rhys!) who decided to nip to the shop first and make us 10 minutes late!  However, once we got there, all ran smoothly. 

I was working on House O, right at the top of the “Hill from Hell” as we have now dubbed it, due to it’s long, steep climb.  Whoever used to live there must have been extremely fit!  I carried on digging the trench alongside the house with Kim and Owen and we managed to get down to the next context.  Further excavation continued on the houses there, as well as the other archaeological surveying methods such as using the EDM.  On the whole it was a day spent tidying the area up for the sake of recording, using a variety of media, and showing around the tourists who flocked to the sites.  The only bad event of the day was Kayleigh being the first victim to the hogweed, making me grateful to be wearing long trousers!

 Later on, due to it being Sally’s last day here, she asked everyone if they wanted to jump off the pontoon into the sea to mark the occasion and we were all more than happy to oblige!  We took it in turns to run up and jump in (some keener than others!) and it was freezing!  Most were eager to get out almost immediately, only to find that the pontoon was almost impossible to get back on!  There was some diving for the less sane and i chose to have a short swim once i’d gotten used to the icy water!  The mad shenanigans continued later on with rounders and overall, i’d say it was a good day for Cardiff Uni’s archaeologists! 😀